The Most Important Thing
by Erika
Summary: When ObiWan falls ill during critical negotiations, he attempts to keep his condition a secret from QuiGon so as not to distract him.


Okay, so there I was, working on one of my longer stories, called "My Place Is At Your Side", when a pesky little troop of plot bunnies attacked me, tied me up, and forced me to write this! Man, at this rate I'll *_never_* finish my other stories!!

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**_Title_****:** The Most Important Thing 

**_Author_****:** Erika

**_Rating_****: **PG

**_Summary_****: **When Obi-Wan falls ill during critical negotiations, he attempts to keep his condition a secret from Qui-Gon so as not to distract him.

**_Time Frame_****: **Obi-Wan is 15

**_Spoilers_****: **Um…I don't think so…

**_Category_****: **That's a good question! I guess I'd have to say h/c, angst, and non-slash

**_Disclaimers_****:** The Star Wars universe and all of its characters belong to George Lucas, I'm only borrowing them to have a little fun and I promise to return them unharmed (well, at least mostly unharmed =0). I'm making no money from this and this is written for entertainment purposes only. 

**_Feedback_****:** Both positive feedback and *_constructive_* criticism are greatly appreciated and will be cherished! (firedrake88@yahoo.com)

**_Archive_****:** Jedi Apprentice, Early Years, Wolfie's Den, JAFD, The Guardians of Peace, The Temple Library, Telly, and any sites who have any of my other stories. Anyone else who wants this, please ask and send me a link to your site so that I can check it out. =D

**_Note:_** I refer to this a couple of times in a story I'm working on now (My Place Is At Your Side), and although there are many times when I mention something that never actually happens in one of my fics, I got inspired to write this, so here it is. =)

Things enclosed in * *'s are *_italic_*

Things enclosed in 's are telepathic communication through the Master/Padawan bond.

**~ The Most Important Thing ~**

Qui-Gon:

Wearily, I let myself slump down onto the comfortably cushioned couch that sat in the middle of the luxurious quarters my Padawan and I had been assigned for the duration of our stay. I wanted nothing more than to sink into a blissful sleep but I knew that something far greater than my physical fatigue would keep me awake long into the hours of the night. My temples ached persistently and my eyes stung from the forced strain of keeping them open, but it was my worry that wouldn't let me sleep.

This session of negotiations between the two warring tribes of Prescots had lasted fourteen hours and the disgruntled leaders were *_still_* no closer to coming to any sort of agreement. If anything, things were looking worse than ever. I had tried by best to draft a treaty that would satisfy both sides, but the datapad had been brushed aside in favor of useless arguments. Finally, when it became overly apparent that all the people present, save myself, were more interested in starting a brawl than anything else, I had called a one day recess to consider my options.

Prescot Prime was home to two distinct tribes of people with very different beliefs. What had started two years earlier as a minor disagreement over whose property a certain piece of land was had escalated into something very serious indeed. One of leaders, Marso, had kidnapped the daughter of the other leader, Kerson, hoping to force the latter into handing over possession of an island with incredible amounts of natural resources. Now the situation was very fragile. It was possible that at any moment Kerson might order his troops to attack Marso's compound and rescue his daughter. If that happened, a war would certainly result.

It was my duty to prevent any such thing from occurring, but if I couldn't even get Marso and Kerson in the same room without them getting into an argument, I would surely fail. And up until this point, all they had done was throw insults back and forth. If I wasn't careful, hundreds of thousands of people could die and I would have to live the rest of my life wondering if I could have done something different and stopped it. Right now, I was at a loss as to how to proceed. 

Sighing, I rose to my feet and headed towards the bedrooms. I would accomplish nothing if I was too exhausted to think straight – which I seriously believed was the case. Before going to bed I would meditate on calming my mind. Even if I only got a few hours of sleep, it would be worth it. Then, the following morning I would consider my options.

Pausing as I passed my Padawan's room, I lingered momentarily by the doorway to observe him sleeping. His room was completely dark except for one streak of moonlight that fell through the window to gently illuminate his face. Recently, as we traveled from chaos filled planet to chaos filled planet, his features had been marred by worries no one his age should have to bear. Now, in sleep, he looked like the young child I knew he was. 

Constantly seeing the bloody results of raging hatred and violence, my Padawan had lost something very precious that he would never regain. His innocence. Before I had accepted him as my apprentice, he had never been forced to kill before, had never seen the bloodied corpses of thousands of soldiers strewn across a trampled battlefield, had never woken up screaming from nightmares filled with images of slaughtered races. 

If a war erupted I knew it would be nearly impossible for Obi-Wan and I to leave the planet – that we would be caught up in the violence and bloodshed – and it was at times like these when I wondered whether I was truly leading Obi-Wan down the right path. As a Jedi he had the potential to do so much good in the universe, but was it really worth it in the face of all the horrors he would surely witness? Did I really want him to become like me – a man with no family save for the apprentice I had nearly cast aside?

I shook my head. This was my fatigue and worry talking. Tomorrow morning I would wake up feeling refreshed and ready to think of new strategies I could use in the following negotiations. After all, preventing a war was worth everything I had been through, was worth the loss of Obi-Wan's innocence, wasn't it? Wasn't it?

~~~~~~~~~

The warning cry of the Force thrummed through me vehemently, bringing me out of my deep sleep in but a few seconds and immediately dispelling of any lassitude that might have remained in me. Snapping my eyes open, I immediately jumped from my bed and drew my lightsaber, flicking it on with the touch of a finger. 

The green light of my glowing blade cast a gentle nimbus over my otherwise dark room and revealed it to be empty. What was the danger I had sensed? Were Obi-Wan and I in some sort or peril or was it something much larger than that? Had a battle broken out between the Prescots? Was war inevitable?

Calming the flurry of questions that flew through my mind, I reached out to touch the Force, searching for the source of the warning that had awoken me. To my relief, everything seemed to be peaceful. I could sense no signs that there was any threat at all. Then what was it that I had sensed? 

Probing deeper, a small trickle of pain suddenly seeped into my mind. The feeling was so faint, so fleeting, that it left me before I could determine its origin and had me wondering whose feelings I was picking up on. In reality, it could have been anyone's, but I knew that I was far more susceptible to feeling my Padawan's emotions above someone I didn't know, or had only briefly met.

Slightly worried, I sent a questioning tendril of Force waves through my bond with the boy and found that his shields, even the most elementary ones that every Jedi was taught to maintain from a very young age, were gone, leaving him completely open to me, and making it extremely easy for me to sense the pain he was in. The stinging tentacles of fire that raced through our connection made me stagger back and filled my heart with an aching worry because I knew that despite our link, I was only feeling part of what he was.

Apprehension rushed through my veins instead of blood. What in the world was causing Obi-Wan to suffer so greatly? How long had he been feeling this way and why hadn't I felt it? Why hadn't the boy told me that he wasn't feeling well? What was wrong with him?

Turning my lightsaber off, I carelessly cast it aside and rushed from my room, into Obi-Wan's. Even in the dim light I could see the boy, huddled and folded into himself in the middle of his bed, drenched in sweat that made his skin glisten. He was shaking almost violently and I could hear the unevenness of his loud, harsh breathing.

Crossing the distance between us in two large strides, I sat on the edge of the bed. The boy was so distracted by what he was feeling that he didn't sense me, and since he was facing the wall, he didn't see me either.

Not wishing to startle him, I softly murmured his name before placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. His bedclothes were wet to the touch but through them I could feel the burning heat of his skin and felt a dagger of fear pierce my heart. He had a raging fever! Force, the entire planet was virtually shut down – would I even be able to get a doctor to come see him?

With a deep breath, I took control of my anxiety. Then I reached out through our bond to probe his body for the cause of this terrible pain. My first priority was to find out what was wrong with him. Quickly, I was able to discern that he hadn't been wounded. Instead, I sensed that he was suffering from a virus. But what sickness would cause this sort of pain and when had he contracted it?

Almost absentmindedly, I rubbed soft circles over his back as I thought of the planets we had recently been to. Our last mission had taken us to a tropical world by the name of Palacia, where… Oh, no, I closed my eyes as the realization struck me. That planet was well known for being the home of the dreadful disease known as 'Mafiluculi Membus', which roughly meant 'fever of fire.' It was rarely fatal but once the illness set in, it caused a terrible, burning pain throughout the entire body, and a high fever that even medicine couldn't lower. 

There was no medication for Mafiluculi Membus, all one could do was wait for the body to naturally fight it off. Fortunately, the symptoms of the disease usually only lasted about a day and when I let the Force flow through me I felt, quite certainly, that Obi-Wan would be nearly well by morning. Relief flooded me. He would feel a lot of pain, but he would be all right.

Shuddering, Obi-Wan curled up into an even tighter ball, and touched my mind with a disoriented bundle of pain and emotions that I couldn't differentiate enough to name. "Master," he gasped out, his excruciatingly small voice so distorted by pain that it gnawed at me. 

Careful not to hurt him, I used my grip on his one, trembling shoulder, to urge him to roll over onto his back. At first he made a muted sound of protest, not wanting to move from the position that surely yielded the greatest amount of comfort, but he was so caught up in the pain that he had not the strength to resist me.

As soon as I saw his face, I felt a wave of pity and sorrow rush through me. The boy's eyes, wide and glazed with pain, had a bottomless, distant look to them. His pupils were dilated – rapidly darting around in a frenzy, not focusing on any one thing. However, it was the sheen of tears that glistened in his eyes that tightened my throat and made it catch. I had seen him cry before, but to witness these tears of pain was terrible. It made him seem so much younger than he was and I wanted nothing more than to take away his pain and keep him safe for the rest of time.

Closing my eyes, I sent the boy waves of comfort through our bond. Then I used the healing energy of the Force to ease as much of his pain as I could. Despite my best efforts, there was very little I could do for the boy, but even some small measure of relief was better than nothing. "It will be all right, Obi-Wan, everything will be all right," I assured the boy when I opened my eyes. His appearance hadn't changed, but I noted that he was breathing a little easier now and when I touched him, he didn't feel as burningly hot. 

Obi-Wan blinked, catching a droplet of shimmering water in his eyelashes and sending another rolling down his cheek. With as much tenderness as existed in my large, blunt fingers, I reached out to gently wipe away the tear and sadly murmur, "My Padawan, my poor Padawan."

My continual outpouring of the healing Force followed by my gentle touch and words seemed to shake Obi-Wan out of the trance-like, distracted state he was in, and finally his eyes settled on my own. "So s-sorry," he mumbled brokenly, his voice haunted by the agony he felt.

Confused at his doubtlessly heartfelt apology, I gently caressed his cheek and very softly whispered, "Why? Why are you sorry? You've done nothing. This isn't your fault."

My Padawan closed his eyes and through our bond I could feel a wash of shame that made me flinch. "I-I t-tried to…to keep my shields…up, b-but I…I couldn't…so sorry…"

I had to forcibly stop myself from showing the surprise that flared through me. He had tried to shield this pain from me? He had tried to keep his illness a secret? Why in the Force would he do that? Surely he didn't think I would blame him for this?

"Obi-Wan," I touched his chin, urging him to open his eyes but speaking even when he didn't, "Why did you keep your pain from me?"

The boy took my hand in his own, gripping it tightly. "T-the n-negotiations…are g-going so poorly….I k-know you're worried. Didn't – didn't want to…distract you f-from them. Didn't w-want you to worry for me when…so-so much is at…stake."

With my thumb, I rubbed soothing circles over the palm of Obi-Wan's hand, comforting him as his words raced through my mind. He hadn't told me because he didn't want to *_distract_* me? Of course the negotiations were important, but the boy meant more to me than anyone else in the universe and no matter what situation we were in, I always wanted to know if he wasn't feeling well, or if something was wrong.

Despite how he was currently feeling, I needed to fully understand the situation, and make him see that I never wanted him to do something like this again. What if it had been something worse than this disease? What if what he had contracted had been fatal and I hadn't been able to save him because he hadn't told me in time?

"Padawan," I kept my voice mild, not wanting to make him feel worse, "How long have you been feeling this way?"

After a brief silence, the boy answered, "Since about an hour a-after…you t-told me to l-leave the…negotiations…"

I bit back my startled gasp. I had sent him back to our quarters to rest seven hours before I had called an end to the negotiations and nearly four hours had passed since then. He had been in this much pain, wasting his energy on shielding me, for so long?

"Obi-Wan, look at me," I commanded, waiting for him to open his eyes before I continued, "Listen to me, and understand. As Jedi, our first priority is to the mission, but as your Master, and your friend, I *_need_* to know whenever you're not feeling well. No matter how bad the situation is, no matter how delicate the negotiations are, I don't want you to keep something like this from me." Despite the reprimand inherent in my words, I kept my tone as soft as possible, acutely aware of the pain he was in and not wanting to add to it in any way.

"B-but y-your full a-attention s-should be on…on the mission….not me," he protested weakly.

I shook my head, "There will be situations when, if you fall ill or something happens to you, I *_won't_* be able to tend to you." As much as it pained me, my duty was first to the mission, and then to boy. Even if my heart wanted it to be the other way around, it wasn't. His was only one life, and during certain situations, such as this one, we would be dealing with the welfare of thousands. "But I still need to know, so that I can get someone else to look after you, and call a doctor to give you the medical attention you need."

Obi-Wan nodded vaguely, but I knew he still didn't fully understand. The pain was clouding his thoughts, and I needed to know he recognized the importance of what I was saying. "Padawan," I continued, "you know how much I care for you, right? You know how much you mean to me?"

A slight smile touched the boy's face, "Yes, Master, I know… I-I…c-care for you…too."

I smiled back, "You're so important to me," I couldn't keep my voice from catching, "if something happened to you because I didn't know that you were sick or wounded, I would never forgive myself. Your safety is paramount to me, no mater what is happening. Understand?"

"Yes…Master," his expression turned dreamy and a slight blush touched his cheeks, "Thank you for…caring."

I closed my eyes for a moment, struggling to control the turbulent emotions those four words created in me. It was a mix of gratitude for having this child in my life and joy for being the one to care for, guide, and protect him. The Force had truly blessed me by sending me an angel of light to chase away the darkness that had settled over my life. He was my friend, and my family. Two things I once thought I'd never have again.

"Your welcome, my Padawan." I answered, when I felt I could speak steadily.

The boy's eyes drifted shut but I knew he would not get any of the sleep he needed so badly until the agony died away. Even a Force-suggestion wouldn't break through his hazed jumble of emotions and pain. 

I needed rest myself, but I found I couldn't tear myself from his side. He needed me now. He needed my comfort and love to help him endure this. He needed to know he wasn't alone. 

With the utmost care, lifted Obi-Wan off of the bed so that I had just enough room to move onto the soft mattress and sit so that I was leaning against the backboard. Then I settled the boy back down so that his head was resting just under my chin and his back was tucked against my upper body. Wrapping my arms around him, I squeezed his still-trembling form and sent him waves of love and support through our bond.

"Hmm…" Obi-Wan groaned slightly, relaxing back into my embrace and blindly seeking my hands until he had them both gripped tightly in his own. "S-stay with me..." he pleaded softly, squeezing my hands.

Smiling, I did just as he asked. For hours, I held him like that, murmuring words of comfort when the pain increased, gently stroking his hair when his hold on my hands weakened, and constantly using the Force to ease him in any way I could. 

As time wore on, Obi-Wan's shaking subsided completely and his fever leveled off until the boy was merely slightly warmer than usual. Then, just before dawn, the pain also lessened to the point where he was finally able to drift off into a healing sleep. 

Pressing a kiss to his sweat-matted hair, I whispered softly, "Sleep well, Padawan mine."

Even though sleep was beckoning me with open arms, I did not let myself embrace it. Instead I sat there, watching the haunted look of pain completely disappear from his face, and smiling when I was once again confronted with the wondrous child, the sleeping angel I had been observing so many hours earlier.

Basking in the love I had for this boy, and the love he so freely returned to me, I suddenly felt reenergized and ready for the task that lay ahead. It would be hard, I knew, but I *_would_* find a way to make the Prescots see reason. I would find a way to negotiate a treaty and avoid a war. I had to. Not for myself and not for Obi-Wan, but for the people of this planet. On this world were millions of children who had never lived through the devastation of a war, who had never lost their parents, siblings, or friends to a horrible, senseless fight. It was my job to see that they never did. If I succeeded - and I had to – those children would be able grow up and fulfill their dreams. 

As Jedi, that was what Obi-Wan and I lived for, fought for, and were willing to die for. We helped keep the peace and by so doing, saved millions of lives. That knowledge, that joy and accomplishment we felt when we prevented a war or helped even a single person, was enough. It was enough to make all the sacrifices worth it. It was enough to justify what Obi-Wan had lost by choosing to be a servant to the people.

True, Obi-Wan would never be able to marry and have children, but he would live with the knowledge that he had helped save peoples' lives. He would live with the knowledge that because of him, people that before would have died, would *_live_* and be able to go home and be with their families. And that would make him happy, because he was a person whose soul was full of light, a person who loved to be of service to others, a person who treasured peace. 

Obi-Wan and I walked a lonely path, but that same path that made us endure so much in the service of others, had also brought us together as a beautiful reward for the sacrifices we made. And that was the most important thing: as we worked to spread light and love across the universe, we had each other, and no matter how great a distance separated us, we always would.

The End

Okay…I'm gonna go back to the story I *_was_* writing when I got inspired to write this…right after I go to bed, that is.

Thanks for reading!!


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